But they also have something that can’t be measured in the standings. Already hit by injuries on defense, the Devils saw Anton Volchenkov get hit in the face by a Tomas Plekanec slap shot at 13:12 of the first period. He got three stitches in the corner of his mouth above his upper lip and played the final two periods.

“At first I thought it would be a little bit tough to come back. But in the first intermission it felt a little better,” Volchenkov said.

He said he did not lose any teeth.

"The teeth are good," Volchenkov reported. "The mouth guard probably saved my teeth. It's alright. It's hockey. Stitches are part of the game."

But Volchenkov has taken several shots in the face, including one from Washington's Nicklas Backstrom early last season that resulted in a concussion.

“He’s just a little crazy. He’s trying to block every puck. It’s in his blood,” Ilya Kovalchuk said.

"It's crazy. Seriously," he said. "He puts himself in that position by going down so low. That's him. He's not going to change. It doesn't bother him. The guy is a tank."

Coach Pete DeBoer added: "The guy is just a warrior. He took a whole bunch of stitches in the face. Most guys you wouldn't see again and he misses only a couple of shifts and goes right back out there."

Then there was Bryce Salvador, who didn’t know if he could play at all because of a stomach problem. In fact, he played two periods before leaving for good.

“He wasn't feeling well going in. We thought he could get through it but he got worse as the game went on,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “He tried to play through it. But unless we had moved a Porta Potty near the bench on that side, we wouldn’t have gotten through the third period.”

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Peter Harrold was used in the last minute against Montreal's top line.

"The numbers (of healthy defensemen) dictated it but also his play dictated it," DeBoer said. "We're asking a lot of him and (Matt) Taormina, the young guys we've got there. On the flip side I thought our three veteran guys that ended up finishing the game-- Volchenkov, Greene and Fayne-- were fantastic."

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Did the Devils really believe they could be a team with home ice in the playoffs?

"We just have to keep the roll going," DeBoer said. "We're on a roll here now. We want to keep this going. Our schedule gets tough. We've got a lot of road left again."

Martin Brodeur: "We got ourselves in a good position. We have a lot of work to do, but we like what we're seeing. The guys are working hard and playing with a lot of passion every night."